The power of positive beliefsMy mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer in the mid-1970s, when I was in grammar school. Her goal, at that time, was to stay alive to see my older sister Kathy and me graduate from high school. She neither dwelled on the disease, nor on why she was stricken with it, but instead focused on getting rid of the cancer and living for her two daughters. She watched both us of graduate from high school, from college and, in my case, from graduate ...

We can't have enough policeCONWAY — There is a verse in the Bible found in James 1:5 that says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” To my way of thinking it is not a weakness but strength and a privilege to seek wisdom from on high when confronted with making important choices and decisions. Such is the case today as I want to talk with you about an important concept that is at...

GOP hopes Obama is key to Senate controlWASHINGTON — Struggling to preserve their Senate majority, Democrats are attacking Republicans over Medicare and Social Security in Louisiana, spending cuts in Arkansas, off-shore jobs in New Hampshire and women’s issues in Colorado. Republicans have a one-size fits-all counter-argument. It’s Barack Obama, a two-term president they’ve turned into a political punching bag and pummeled at will. “Mark Begich is with Obama. I’m with you,” Republic...

Who needs an Ebola czar?“Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the czar?” He thinks for a moment and responds: “May God bless and keep the czar ... far away from us!” — “Fiddler on the Roof” Today, “czar” is a term encouraged by the media to describe one who oversees a specific government policy. According to The Atlantic.com, President Franklin Roosevelt “solidified the trend” of using the word czar to identify policy appointees. Some modern presidents appointed sev...

Fowle was North Korea’s easiest U.S. casePYONGYANG, North Korea — Why did North Korea free Jeffrey Fowle, and only him, when two other Americans remain in prison there? Probably because Pyongyang considered him the most minor of the three offenders, and may believe that releasing him could improve abysmal U.S. relations and even temper growing international criticism of its human-rights record. Fowle was not accused of espionage or “hostile acts,” as the other Americans were. The 56-...

Consider Issue No. 4I am writing to encourage Arkansans to research proposed Issue No. 4, entitled “Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Initiative,” which will be decided with the Nov. 4 election. The primary supporter of this initiative is an organization called Let Arkansas Decide. Their group might more aptly be named “Let the populated areas of Arkansas Decide for the entire state.” This initiative, if approved, will permit sales of alcoholic beverages throughout the...

Voter ID law: Good experiment, bad lawWhen a law punishes more than 1,000 innocent people but doesn’t catch any guilty people, there’s something wrong with the law. Such is the case with the voter ID requirement that was struck down unanimously by the Arkansas Supreme Court last week. Four justices said it illegally added to the state Constitution’s requirement that a voter be an American citizen, an Arkansas resident above age 18, and lawfully registered to cast a ballot. Three j...

Predatory journalismThe New York Times is again on the warpath against what it calls “predatory lending.” Just what is predatory lending? It is lending that charges a higher interest rate than people like those at the New York Times approve of. According to such thinking — or lack of thinking — the answer is to have the government set an interest rate ceiling at a level that will be acceptable to third parties like the New York Times. People who believe in govern...

Both sides of No. 4 have similar interestsThe battle over Issue No. 4 on Arkansas general election ballots, at least in financing the campaign messages, is between those who would like to sell alcoholic beverages and those who would like to continue selling alcoholic beverages. Issue No. 4, whose popular name is the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Amendment, would make legal the sale, manufacture and transportation of intoxicating liquors in all 75 counties of the state. That would effect...

Themes same, tone new in debateFAYETTEVILLE — Based on their back-to-back televised debates, the hotly contested race between Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican Rep. Tom Cotton boils down to one question: Do voters hate President Barack Obama or billionaires more? Little new ground was plowed in the lines of attack between Pryor and Cotton as they faced off last week in their only debates, but it offered a new glimpse at the increasingly caustic tone of a race t...

My only spooky storySince it’s almost Halloween, I am going to tell you my one-and-only ghost story. I can assure you that this happened and that it happened to me. That said, even after this experience, I’m not really convinced there are ghosts walking among us. My story started just after I moved out of my parent’s house. I was 18 at the time and I moved into an apartment complex in Russellville. I chose one that overlooked a then-undeveloped area so that I cou...

Man accused of stealing plumbingST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Police said they’ve flushed out a man accused of stealing the handles and pipes of toilets in parks and restaurant restrooms around a Florida city. St. Petersburg police said Friday they arrested a 28-year-old homeless man. He is accused of stealing the plumbing from Cracker Barrel, Burger King, Bob Evans and other restaurants. Police released a photo of a pile of metal toilet parts that they say Brian Rinda stole. Polic...

Who favors states’ rights in the United States?The United States has a history of being a federalistic nation. Federalism is a division of political power between the national and state, and to a lesser extent to the county and municipal levels. This system has led to a real problem of jurisdiction (which level does what). Generally, the national has interstate powers and the state has intrastate powers. The state has the further problem of delegating some of its duties and authority to th...

Ebola risk very low in stateLITTLE ROCK — We have heard from many of you this week voicing concerns and asking questions about what our state is doing to protect the public from the Ebola virus. We want to pass along the information that has been provided to us from the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH). Dr. Nathanial Smith, the director of ADH, updated a legislative committee Friday morning. As of now there are no active cases of Ebola in Arkansas and the risk is very...

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Arkansas House of RepresentativesThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Drug take-back campaigns a successLITTLE ROCK — Thanks to participation by law enforcement agencies in all regions of the state, Arkansas has one of the most successful prescription drug take-back campaigns in the country. Since 2010, Arkansas drug prevention and law enforcement teams have collected more than 62 tons of out-of-date prescription drugs turned in by people cleaning out their medicine cabinets. At a joint meeting of the Legislative Task Forces on Substance Abuse P...

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State Capitol Week in ReviewThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

A book of gemsCONWAY — As a Christian, one of the most meaningful things in my life is prayer. This has not always been the case, but over the past several years, and especially the past several months, prayer has become increasingly more important to me. My favorite story regarding prayer is about the lady who was visiting with her pastor about some serious challenges she was facing. After listening to her for a while, the pastor said, “What we need to do ...

Irresponsible 'education'Goddard College’s recent decision to have its students addressed from prison by a convicted cop killer is just one of many unbelievably irresponsible self-indulgences by “educators” in our schools and colleges. Such “educators” teach minorities born with an incredibly valuable windfall gain — American citizenship — that they are victims who have a grievance against people today who have done nothing to them, because of what other people did in...

We're living in depressing timesSome people I know refuse to watch the news or read the papers these days, and who can blame them? The headlines are depressing and no one seems to be in charge. The stock market rises and falls, playing “now you see it, now you don’t” with your 401k, the Ebola virus is on the move, infecting more and more people, while the United States pretends there isn’t anything at all to worry about. ISIS, which is something to worry about, marches stead...

Exercise, routine and lifeWhile new and novel might be exciting, routine and habit can help create a structure and framework for success. From eating breakfast, brushing our teeth or exercising every day, much of our lives are driven by routine. This reliance on routine behavior can startle us when we are driving and find ourselves not at our planned destination, but at our routine destination. In my case, the power of routine was driven home last May, after my family ...

Passing health reform, and a kidney stoneIt was Saturday morning, March 29, and the pain in my lower back was growing more intense. I knew what was happening. It was not my first kidney stone. If you’ve ever had one, you know the drill: the writhing, the fruitless shifting of positions hoping to find relief, the heaving. When I could take the pain no more, I shakily told my wife to wake the kids and drive me to the emergency room. When we arrived, I begged the admittance clerk to hur...